Everything Changes
by KateCullen123
Summary: An AU fiction in which all the characters are human - no vampires. Bella meets Alice and her friends, including Edward Cullen, at college. But he would never look twice at her when he has Rosalie as a girl friend...would he?
1. Chapter 1

**Story Summary: **

**Bella Swan is rather unwillingly heading to University of Washington for college, to stay close to Charlie, whose health she is worried about. She doesn't really plan on making new friends, but then she meets Alice Brandon and her friends, including the gorgeous and mysterious Edward Cullen. But he wouldn't look twice at a girl like Bella, especially not when he has the beautiful Rosalie as his girlfriend. Or would he? Sometimes, everything changes.**

~Bella's POV~

I took one last long look around my bedroom, checking I had left nothing behind. The room was as bare as it had been the day I arrived here in Forks.

I waited for a sense of an ending to wash over me, but none came. It wasn't that I hadn't enjoyed my time here in Forks; I had. Well maybe enjoyed was stretching it. The weather was always crap, and you had to drive out to Port Angeles for proper shopping, Seattle if you wanted decent variety.

But the people round here were great, and I had made some really good friends. There was Jacob Black down at La Push, my oldest and best friend. At school I'd met Angela Weber, my best girl-friend, and Mike Newton, my loveable boyfriend, who had followed me like a lost puppy since my first day at Forks' High. Charlie approved of Mike, of course, and he knew the Newtons well. Every teenage girl's nightmare; a boyfriend who your dad really likes.

I'd said my goodbyes to my friends yesterday. Angela didn't head off to college until next week, so she had come over and helped me to pack.

I'd driven down to La Push and spent most of the day with Jacob and his friends. I was going to miss the fun I had with Jake and everyone down at the reservation; Sam, Quil and Embry and also Emily and Leah.

Finally I'd gone out with Mike; he'd insisted on treating me to dinner at the Lodge, one of the few restaurants in town. Mike was going to stay around Forks this year, working and earning money before he went to college next year. I was going to be able to see him every weekend, so he was happy.

No, the reason why I didn't feel sad about leaving was that I was not really going far enough away to constitute 'leaving'.

I was going to the University of Washington, which was close enough to Forks that I could drive home every weekend to visit Charlie.

Ideally, I had wanted to go to college somewhere warmer, where the sun shone more than three days a year. It would have been nice to be closer to my mom as well; I'd missed her over the past two years.

But Charlie needed me, much as he tried to persuade me otherwise. His health was failing, despite his age. Ever since Harry Clearwater's untimely death, I lived in fear of Charlie suffering a similar fate. His blood pressure was too high; he turned a ghastly red color if I ever upset him.

Added to this, I knew that, much as he denied it, Charlie would be lonely without me. He had been lonely before I came, and now would be worse. He no longer had Harry to hang out with, and Billy Black, Jacob's dad, was finding it ever harder to get around.

Renee, on the other hand, had Phil, and he was perfectly capable of looking after her. I had spent pretty much the first seventeen years of my life making sure my mother was ok, and now it was my father's turn.

My feelings of obligation towards Charlie had led me to choose University of Washington.

I sighed and grabbed my duffel bag off my bed, then headed downstairs to say goodbye to Charlie.

"I'm in the living room." He called as he got up from the sofa. "Are you sure you don't want me to drive you Bells?"

"Charlie, I'll be fine. Anyway, I'll need my truck."

"Oh yeah, I guess you will..."

"Anyway Charlie, I'd better go. There's plenty of food in the freezer that just needs heating up."

"Honestly Bella! You'd think I'd never lived alone before! I managed fine before you came. Though I have to admit I have eaten better these past two years."

"Well, bye then dad. I'll see you on Saturday."

I gave him an awkward one-armed hug.

"Bells, are you sure...this is what...you want?"

"Bye Charlie, I'll call you tonight!" I garbled, avoiding the question.

I rushed out the front door and threw my bag onto the passenger seat of my beat-up old truck.

I started the ignition and the truck roared to life, drowning out the sound of Charlie's goodbyes. Waving frantically, I backed out of the drive and set off.


	2. Chapter 2

~Bella's POV~

I finally arrived at the university and pulled up into a parking spot next to a silver Volvo. My poor truck seemed to be the oldest vehicle here.

I unzipped my bag and pulled out the envelope of documents I'd been sent, a found the map that directed me to the dorm building I'd been assigned to.

The interior of the building was pleasant enough, with a young woman sitting at a desk in the lobby.

I made my way over to her.

"Hi, my names Isabella Swan."

"Hey, I'm Lisa. I'm Resident Advisor of this residence hall. Can you sign this please?"

"Ok, here is your key. You're in room 108." She gave me the key in exchange for the signed paper.

You're roommate is called..." She glanced down at her file. "Alice Brandon."

Roommate..._damn._ I had been holding out hopes for a single. Just my luck.

"Ok, thanks."

"If you need any help or anything, just come ask me, or the Resident Director, Paul."

"Great." I said without enthusiasm.

I decided to take the elevator rather than risk tripping up the stairs on my first night here. I found my room easily, and was struggling with the key when the door was opened from inside.

A short, pretty, slender girl stood before me, with cropped black hair. She looked unnaturally happy, and was practically bouncing on the spot.

"Hey, I'm Alice; you must be Isabella!"

"Hi, yeah, call me Bella."

"Bella, sure. So how are you?"

She bounded ahead of me into the room without waiting for an answer.

"You can have the bed by the window Bella."

"Oh thanks, are you sure?"

"Absolutely." Alice bounced onto the other bed. "So, we should get to know each other a bit. What are you majoring in?"

"English Lit. You?" I asked as I unpacked my stuff into a closet. Alice had already unpacked, no doubt with great enthusiasm.

"Psychology. Hey, do you need any help unpacking?"

"Umm, I'm good thanks."

Alice wandered over anyway. She picked up my favorite blue shirt.

"Ooh, this is lovely! Hey this is going to be so fun! We can swap clothes and everything!" She was practically exploding with excitement.

"Yeah." I said half-heartedly.

I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to borrow my wardrobe, which consisted almost entirely of jeans, sweats and t-shirts. Alice's clothes, on the other hand, were bound to be beautiful, if her current outfit was anything to go by. She was wearing a frilly green tank top, and low-rise blue jeans which suited her perfectly. Definitely not the kind of stuff I would wear.

"Tell me about yourself Bella." Alice said, perching daintily on the edge of my bed.

"Um, ok. What do you want to know?"

"Where you're from, your family, anything."

"I grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, with my mom, the I moved to Forks to live with my dad two years ago."

I felt uncomfortable disclosing even this small amount of personal information to someone I'd only known for 45 minutes.

"Forks, that's pretty close isn't it? Well up till now I've lived with my parents and my little sister. And now I've come here with ,my boyfriend, Jasper. Do you have a boyfriend or anything?"

"Yeah, I have a boyfriend back in Forks."

"What about hobbies, what do like to do?"

"I read a lot, I guess. How about you?"

"My main hobby is dancing." She twirled on the spot. "I'm getting hungry; do you want to head down to the cafeteria? I'll introduce you to Jasper and our friends."

"Wow, you've already made friends here?"

"Not exactly. I already know them, and we all ended up at the same college."

"Cool."

So Alice had a ready-made friendship group here. I sighed as I realised that, yet again, I was going to be the outsider.


	3. Chapter 3

~Alice's POV~

Bella Swan seemed like a lovely girl. I probably scared her, what with my bouncy personality, but once people get to know me they get used to it, and if they don't they're not worth my time.

Bella was shy, and not particularly talkative, but I had the feeling we would end up friends, and I was usually right about that kind of thing.

Bella followed me quietly as I headed to Jasper's room to fetch him before dinner. Luckily, unlike me he had got a single room.

I knocked on his door and he opened it almost immediately.

"Hey sweetie." I said, kissing him lightly on the lips. I turned to Bella.

"Bella, this is my boyfriend, Jasper Whitlock. Jasper, this is my new roommate, Bella Swan."

Jasper, ever the gentleman, lent past me to shake Bella's hand.

"Nice to meet you."

"Where are the others?" I asked him.

"They've already gone to get some food. I had to wait for you though." He said, pretending to be annoyed.

I punched him playfully on the arm.

"Do you know where the cafeteria is?"

"Well, I'm guessing downstairs, but we can try the roof if you want!"

"Ha ha, very funny Jasper."

I elbowed him again and he swiftly grabbed me and kissed me. Bella was beginning to look embarrassed by us, so I broke away.

"Come on, let's go."

We were making our way down the last flight of stairs when there was a small squeak behind me and Bella came plummeting past us. Jasper threw out his arm just in time to prevent her from smashing her head on the floor.

He released her and she stood up unsteadily.

"Crap."

"God Bella! Are you alright?" I said, putting my arm around her.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for catching me Jasper!"

"No problem...you look a little pale though, you should sit down."

I helped Bella into the cafeteria, and sat her down at the table that Jasper's friend Emmett beckoned us over to."

"Everyone, this is my roomie Bella. Bella, meet Emmett and Edward Cullen, and Rosalie Hale."

Bella's eyes flickered from Emmett, to Edward and Rosalie, who were sat with their arms around each other. Her eyes widened.

Ok, so the first time you see Edward and Rosalie, it is kind of a shock. They are both unbelievably beautiful people. It probably goes against nature that they ended up together. Rosalie had lusted after Edward ever since she met him, and six months ago they started dating.

I had known Rosalie previously, but we had become better friends since she and Edward got together, what with Jasper being friends with Emmett and Edward.

Bella was looking down at her hands now, fiddling with her nails.

"Right Bella, let's go get some food."

We grabbed trays and joined the line for food. Bella took a plate of Lasagne and leaned closer to me as I checked out the vegetarian option.

"So, Emmett and Edward must be twins to be in the same year then? They sure don't look alike."

"Well they're actually not related at all. They were both adopted years ago by Carlisle and Esme Cullen, so they grew up as bothers. Mr and Mrs Cullen are a lovely couple, I know them really well."

"And Rosalie, wow, she's stunning!"

"Feeling a little intimidated? Don't worry; everyone does when they first meet her. I know I did! But once you get to know her, she's a great person."

We sat back down with our food and began to eat.

"So, classes don't start until Wednesday guys. We've got two days to kill." Emmett said, pushing his empty plate away from him and inspecting a class schedule.

"The girl in the room next to mine's brother is having a party at his Greek house tomorrow night. You all up for it?"

"Ooh a party!" I bounced in my seat.

"So what do you say guys?"

"Sounds like it could be fun." Agreed Jasper and Emmett, and Edward shrugged his assent.

"How about you Bella?" I asked.

"What...? Oh, sure." She seemed pretty distracted.

Everyone had finished eating by now so we got rid of our trays. We planned to all go chill and watch TV in Edward and Emmett's room, but Bella excused herself and went back to our room.

"She's a little weird isn't she?" Emmett said once Bella was out of earshot.

"Emmett! She's really sweet, and anyway, it's probably a bit intimidating for her being around us when we're all already friends."

"Yeah, she's just shy." Edward surprised me by giving his opinion.

*****

I kissed Jasper goodnight outside his room after deciding to spend my first night here in my own dorm instead of with Jasper. I opened the door to my room just as Bella was finishing up on the phone with someone.

"Charlie! I'm fine here, stop worrying. More importantly, are you going to be ok?...ok, ok, anyway, my roommates back. I'd better go...yep, bye!"

"Was that your boyfriend?" I asked without thinking "...sorry I didn't mean to be nosy."

"No, its fine, and actually that was my dad."

Her phone started ringing. She glanced at the caller ID.

"This _is_ my boyfriend...Hey Mike, what's up?"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

~Edward's POV~

Rosalie sighed in her sleep and rolled away from me, hitting the wall; the single bed here was not really big enough for both of us. I gazed at her sleeping form.

She was so much more breathtaking when she was just herself, without the makeup and elaborate hair styles. Even so, her beauty didn't affect me the way it did other people. Like this Bella, for instance. It would have been hard to miss the look of shock on her face when she sat down. And then she looked at me in the way that most girls did when they first met me. At least she had a boyfriend, or so Alice had said, so hopefully it would not progress to the attention that I had received from girls throughout high school, and hated. Most of them were too stupid to even realise what rejection was when it jumped up and bit them in the face.

Without meaning to sound bigheaded, I could have got any girl I wanted, but I never really found one I _did _want.

Rose was intelligent and interesting, and she had been much more subtle in her pursual of me. However, part of the reason I started dating her was purely selfish; to stop other girls chasing me.

Maybe I didn't feel that guilty because I knew Rosalie was in part using me as well. She had pretty much the perfect life and she chose me as the 'perfect man' to complete it. That makes her sound like a bitch, which she was not. She was kind and loyal, but perhaps a bit shallow.

I thought back to Bella again. She had seemed so lost today, more so than a new college student usually did. Maybe lost wasn't the right word. She had looked...resigned. As though she didn't really want to be here at all, but had accepted it. I stopped my train of thought; I was being too deep again, something that was a source of perpetual annoyance to my friends, especially Emmett. And why was I thinking of this Bella so much anyway?

*****

"Edward, are you ready?" Rosalie yelled through the door to mine and Emmett's room.

"Coming!" I grabbed my jacket of the back of a chair.

"Dude, slow down. You don't even really need to go to this thing, you've already got a girl."

"Dude!" I mimicked. "First, I'm going because Rose wants to, and second, people don't just go to parties 'to get a girl'."

"Oh, Edward…so much to learn!"

I punched Emmett playfully then opened the door to Rosalie. She grabbed my arm and dragged me off along the corridor.

"Come on, we're going to go get Alice and Bella."

Bella could not be more different from Alice and Rosalie. Whereas they were wearing dresses and looked as though they had spent hours doing their makeup and hair, Bella was plainly dressed in jeans and a blue shirt. In suited her though and it was a breath of fresh air to see a girl who didn't appear to obsess about her appearance.

The four of us headed down to the foyer, where we met Jasper and Emmett. Together we walked to the venue of the party. It was being held in the garden of the Greek House; luckily the weather was still warm enough for an outdoor party. As we approached the house I could hear the pumping music, and already I felt the beginnings of a headache stirring. Parties were not my thing; as Emmett had said earlier I was pretty inept socially. But I had to go with Rosalie for 'appearances' sake' and all that.

It seemed like I wasn't the only one who didn't want to be here tonight. Bella was looking as uncomfortable as I felt, but I had perfected the art of hiding my true feelings years ago. I tapped her on the shoulder and she turned round, and her eyes widened in shock when she saw who had wanted her attention.

"Don't worry; it'll all be over in a few hours." I said quietly to her.

"Yeah, I hope so."

We walked through to the back yard of the house, where the party was already in full swing. Emmett immediately headed over to the most beautiful girl he could find, while the others wandered over to grab some drinks. I stood awkwardly on the edge of a group of people, until Rose grabbed my arm and dragged me off to introduce me to some people I wasn't particularly interested in meeting. I was beginning to wonder if going to the same college as someone who loved to party and socialize, and would probably want me to join in, was a good idea.

After about an hour the temperature dropped, and suddenly the sky darkened. Within minutes it was raining, and everyone rushed inside, complaining about their hair and clothes getting wet. Once we were inside and the music was back on, Rosalie wanted me to dance with her.

After another hour or so, I began to get claustrophobic as the dancing couples around us pressed in closer. It was way too hot, and the loud music and alcohol was giving me a migraine. The room started to spin. I let go of my hold on Rosalie and pushed my way through the crowds of people. Shoving the back door open, I inhaled gulps of fresh air. It was raining heavily now, but I remained outside, leaning against the wall, regardless. I really was not made for this kind of thing. At least I would be able to moan to someone about this later for once; from the glimpses I had caught of Bella throughout the evening, she didn't really look like she was having the best time of her life.

Eventually the rain soaking into my clothes cleared my head, so I took another deep breath and stepped back inside.

I almost tripped over someone, and turned to see that he was making out with someone; Bella Swan to be precise. For some reason a strange feeling of disappointment washed over me. I guess I had thought she wouldn't be like other girls that got p*issed at parties and kissed random guys they had never met before. And hadn't Alice mentioned that Bella had a boyfriend…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

~Bella's POV~

Wow. Alice certainly had some _interesting_ friends. I didn't think I'd ever be able to look in a mirror again after seeing Rosalie. I mean, I'd thought Alice was really pretty, but Rosalie was just scarily beautiful. Then there was her boyfriend, Edward. I'd never seen such a good looking guy before. Mind you, Forks wasn't exactly packed with potential models. Guaranteed way to lower your self esteem, being around all these stunning people, I thought bitterly. I'd never really cared about my appearance that much though, so I guessed I'd survive. Until classes started it seemed like Alice was going to do her best to make me feel included, which unfortunately meant attending this party. Ugh, parties. The only ones I'd been to back in Forks had been bad enough, and they were pretty small affairs, with anxious parents hovering around, making sure no-one got intoxicated or anything.

I searched through my closet for something worthy of wearing. I hadn't really had social occasions in mind when I'd packed, just practicality. I made a mental note to search out some of the unworn dresses that Renée insisted on sending me every now and again when I went home for the weekend.

Alice appeared from the bathroom, wearing a bathrobe in preparation for getting ready.

"Do you know what you're going to wear Bella?"

"Um, maybe this I said lamely," holding up my blue shirt. "I don't really own any party-wear."

"You can borrow something of mine if you want."

"Thanks, but I think I'll just wear this tonight. What are you wearing?"

"Well, I'm stuck between two outfits. Here, what do you think?"

*****

Someone knocked on our door, and I jumped, stabbing myself with the mascara wand and succeeding in smearing my eye makeup.

"Rosalie's here!" called Alice.

"On my way!" I shouted back, grabbing a tissue and trying to repair the damage I'd done. I took one last look in the mirror, shrugged, then headed out to Alice and Rosalie.

I had anticipated that Rosalie, who had looked amazing in sweats and a t-shirt, would show me up with whatever she was wearing, and I was right. Both she and Alice were wearing dresses, Alice's yellow, and Rosalie's a startling shade of pink, that would have probably looked hideous on anyone else. I glanced down at my jeans and felt self-conscious. Clothing had never been an issue in Forks, where pretty much every day necessitated bulky layers and a raincoat. I was obviously going to need to invest in some new clothes if I was to fit in here. But then again, I'd never really fit in anywhere. I sighed at the thought of shopping.

Then I noticed that Edward was also here, hovering behind Rosalie. My stomach did a weird flippy thing. In all fairness, no-one should look that good. _Mike_, I reminded myself. Mike was good looking, I guess, but Edward was so...so dazzling. How could he not take anyone's breath away? Not that appearances really mattered that much to me. I tried my best to judge people by their personalities, not what they looked like. I just wished others would extend the same courtesy to me once in a while.

Rosalie and Alice checked their appearances one last time in the mirror, then we headed down to the entrance hall. This time I was especially careful to watch where I was stepping to avoid another embarrassing display of my klutziness.

Jasper and Emmett were already waiting for us, so we set off; following the instructions Rosalie had been given. Everyone was commenting on how unseasonably warm the weather was, but to me, even after nearly two years here, it seemed pretty chilly.

I was walking quietly, concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, when someone tapped me from behind. I spun round, expecting Alice or possibly Rosalie, but to my shock it was Edward Cullen.

"Don't worry; it'll all be over in a few hours." He muttered, looking himself as if he wished it was over already. Which I had to admit, I did too.

"Yeah, I hope so." I mumbled, blushing at my inability to communicate well with new people.

Soon the sound of pumping music alerted us to the location of the party. We headed through to the backyard.

"Hey Bella, do you want a drink?" asked Jasper, handing me a paper cup of beer.

I glanced around. It appeared pretty much everyone was drinking. I'd never really been into the whole under-age drinking thing, what with Charlie being a cop, but I decided that right now I just wanted to fit in, so I accepted it.

I spent the next hour standing around, occasionally chatting to people, but mainly just feeling awkward. Random people kept handing me drinks, and I was starting to feel a bit fuzzy-headed. I was quite glad when it started raining; at least going inside would be a change of scenery. I had been getting pretty cold as well; unlike for others here, this temperature did not qualify as 'warm' to me.

However, once we were inside the music was even louder, and people started dancing. If there was one thing I didn't do, it was dancing. As if clumsiness wasn't enough, I was felt excruciatingly embarrassed at my attempts at dance moves. I chatted for Alice for a bit, but then she and Jasper went off to dance close to Edward and Rosalie. Emmett had disappeared ages ago with some girl.

After what seemed like ages of standing awkwardly on the edge of a group of dancing people, I was approached by a guy. He was quite good-looking, but obviously pretty drunk. He staggered towards me.

"Hey I'm Chris." He slurred.

"Um, hey, I'm Bella."

"You're really pretty you know."

"Um, _right_." _You wouldn't be saying that if you weren't seeing double_.

He stepped closer to me, and I automatically tripped backwards.

"Aw, come on don't walk away from me!"

I mumbled something incomprehensible.

"You know you want to kiss me!"

"Actually, I really _don't_."

I had moved so far back that I was up against a wall, but he was still coming closer.

"Come on." His face was uncomfortable close to mine. I tried to extract myself, but he pushed me up against the wall and began to roughly kiss me. I pushed him, but he had large muscles, and I'd never been particularly strong. I managed to move my lips away from his.

"Get off me!"

Suddenly I felt his weight being pulled off me, and looked up to see Edward grabbing hold of Chris by the back of his t-shirt.

"She said _get off_!"

I stepped away from the wall and swayed slightly. Strong arms caught me, thankfully not Chris' this time. Edward gently led me out the nearby back door.

"Are you ok Bella?" he asked, as he helped me sit down on a plastic garden chair.

I nodded.

"Thanks for…what you did back there."

"It was no problem. That guy was a jerk."

I heard someone open the door and looked round to see Rosalie.

"Where have you been Edward? Come on, come back inside. Oh, hey Bella."

She disappeared back into the party.

"Are you sure you're ok Bella?"

"I'm fine, seriously. Go ahead."

Edward looked at me apologetically, then walked back inside. I sighed as I sat in the rain and watched his retreating back.


End file.
